Re: For animal lovers

echo226, They also have a medical credit card for people called Care Credit, you can pay monthly installments interest free for so many months (3,6,9 etc.) They don't charge you interest as long as you pay it off in the time they give you, but you do have to call before the proceedure and set it up. Some Vets will a let you use Care Credit at their clinics. It might be something that you could use.
I don't have pet insurance either, but do have money set aside, with Rusty and his seizures, I never know when one will break through his meds and we will have to make a mad dash to the Vet. Good luck, we will wait and wring our hands with you.

Re: For animal lovers

My vets don't take credit or debit cards. Heck....then don't even have computers. They bang away on a manual typewriter. They will take a check or cash, only, and they will allow you to split up your payment.
And they have a HUGE practice.

Re: For animal lovers

My vet has a practice of taking the pet in the back for any procedure, such as a blood draw, etc. When we were there the other day, they took her 3 times, once for the blood, once to scrape some of the plaque, and once to "tip" her nails. As I said, she is a velcro dog and would not go with them, after the blood draw and when they carried her she was looking over their shoulders for me.

On the way home we visited a Nursing Home where my aunt is a resident and while she was good, she was visibly (to me) nervous and wouldn't take her eyes off me. This is really different behavior for her. She is a real people dog and is usually anxious to share her joyfulness with the folks there.

I realized later that the last 3 times she was in the car were to the groomer's twice and then the vet. All of these experiences had people taking her from me and then her being "manhandled" in some way. She was a little trembly getting out of the car at the groomer and the other day at the vet and I don't want her to be afraid and worked up the morning of the procedure ... or ever for that matter.

Soooooo .... for the next couple of days, I've resolved to take her on happy car trips ... or at least car trips to pleasant destinations. I knew I was right to do this when this afternoon as I went to put her travel gear on she stiffened her front legs, and actually clenched her front paws! Once the harness was on she was distressed and removing throw pillows from their designated positions! Again, this very different behavior for her and she was clearly stressed.

I also stopped to greet a neighbor's while on our "happy trip" and the neighbor reached in to pet her and said she could feel her trembling. When I next stopped the car she stared crying a little ... again, afraid.

BUT ... this time the destination was another neighbor's home for a play date with a sweet little pug ! Yay! It was fun for her and she is zonked this evening.

More happy trips coming up and to continue even after this dental procedure,

Still wringing my hands ... but hanging in there with my little sweetheart.

Re: For animal lovers

Ok, this is going to seem a little crazy but my hubby and I just found out our male dog that we've had for going on 5 mos that we named Peanut is a female, I have no idea how we didn't figure that out but we didn't.. when we picked up the puppy we said we wanted to get a boy and the people pointed him out and said 'he's a boy' and because he is so young it just didn't stand out to us that he wasn't in fact a boy.. now my husband wants to change her name, my question to everybody is : do you think she's still young enough that she can learn a new name?

Re: For animal lovers

Originally Posted by Madison_2008;4032557;

Ok, this is going to seem a little crazy but my hubby and I just found out our male dog that we've had for going on 5 mos that we named Peanut is a female, I have no idea how we didn't figure that out but we didn't.. when we picked up the puppy we said we wanted to get a boy and the people pointed him out and said 'he's a boy' and because he is so young it just didn't stand out to us that he wasn't in fact a boy.. now my husband wants to change her name, my question to everybody is : do you think she's still young enough that she can learn a new name?

What's wrong with peanut?

Anyway - when Joey was adopted 14 years ago, my drunky roomie at the time (Joey was supposed to be his, since I had Mona- another story) couldn't decide so the first name was Buddy for the first couple weeks, then someone looked DOWN THERE and did not SEE THAT YET and he decided that this GIRL would now be called ZOEY. Well a couple months later "ZOEY" decided to MARK "HER" territory and we found out SHE was in FACT HE - and ZOEY became JOEY. So yes - if repeated I believe Peanut will learn a new name.

Re: For animal lovers

Re: For animal lovers

Originally Posted by Madison_2008;4032557;

Ok, this is going to seem a little crazy but my hubby and I just found out our male dog that we've had for going on 5 mos that we named Peanut is a female, I have no idea how we didn't figure that out but we didn't.. when we picked up the puppy we said we wanted to get a boy and the people pointed him out and said 'he's a boy' and because he is so young it just didn't stand out to us that he wasn't in fact a boy.. now my husband wants to change her name, my question to everybody is : do you think she's still young enough that she can learn a new name?

"Peanut" seems to be an "either sex" name, so why can't she still be "Peanut"?

Re: For animal lovers

I've adopted grown dogs and changed their names. One dog was a stray with no fixed name at the shelter. Another dog was named "Sally" which is my mom's name, so I changed it to Suki. Both dogs responded to their new names within a day. I just repeated their name a lot in a happy voice, and praised them when they would look at me.